Men’s volleyball falls to #8 Stevens, rebounds to whitewash NJCU

HOBOKEN, N.J. – No. 4-ranked Juniata College men's volleyball played eighth-ranked Stevens Institute of Technology to five sets before dropping a 3-2 decision to the Ducks, but followed up with a 3-0 shutout of New Jersey City University on Saturday at Stevens' Canavan Arena.

Set scores in the loss to Stevens were 27-25, 22-25, 25-17, 21-25, and 15-11.

Middle Ben Wolff (Meadville, Pa./Meadville) led the Eagles with 13 kills on 25 swings with two errors for a .440 attack percentage, while pin hitter Ross Madden (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) logged 12 kills while hitting .242 for the match.  Madden and Wolff each had three blocks for the Eagles.

Mike Kraft (York, Pa./Eastern York) put away 11 terminations for Juniata, while rookie Joe Bortak (Jeannette, Pa./Penn Trafford) tallied 10 kills on 15 swings with only one error for a .600 hitting percentage.

Juniata (9-5) hit .286 for the match, with setter John Almquist (York, Pa./Central York) recording 50 assists while running the offense.

However Stevens hit .324 over the five sets, and out-blocked Juniata 10.5 to 8.0.

Four Ducks finished in double digits for kills, led by outside hitters Ryan Seifert and Thomas Hannum with 15 terminations each – Seifert's behind a .267 hitting percentage while adding an ace and two block assists, while Hannum had an ace and three block assists. Middle blocker Etan Bennett had 13 kills with three total blocks, while Ian Tyger logged 10 kills. 

Middle Jake Modestow had nine kills on 15 error-free swings, and did most of the Ducks' damage at the net with eight total blocks.

Juniata closed out the two-match road swing to New Jersey with a 25-22, 25-14, 25-15 triumph over New Jersey City University.

Madden charted 12 kills on 24 swings in the win, while Bortak and Wolff finished with seven kills and three total blocks each.

The Eagles' service game came to the fore against the Gothic Knights, as Juniata served up eight aces.   Paul Kuhn (York, Pa./Central York) logged four aces, while Almquist finished with three.

Almquist finished the match with 32 assists as he guided Juniata to a .316 hitting percentage. New Jersey City was held to a .095 attack percentage for the match and the Gothic Knights logged just 26 kills, with Kenny Lisk and Besmir Arslani logging seven kills each.

Juniata returns to action this Friday, Feb. 24, and Saturday, Feb. 25, as the Eagles host the two-day Juniata Invitational.  The Eagles open on Friday against Lancaster Bible (2:00 p.m.) and Springfield College (8:00 p.m.), with a match against Nazareth College awaiting on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. 

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